Part of 1. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Cabinet Office – in the Senedd at 1:32 pm on 17 April 2024.
Tom Giffard
Conservative
1:32,
17 April 2024
It is worth repeating sometimes that the Welsh Government does receive £1.20 for every £1 spent in England—a Union dividend. And even Keir Starmer must think that that’s a good deal, because he has no plans to change it either. But perhaps we need to talk more about the decisions that this Welsh Government makes with its money. To govern is to choose, and you’ve chosen 20 mph speed limits over education, airports over apprenticeships, and 36 more politicians over 650 more nurses. Will this Welsh Labour Government, under new leadership, choose to reflect on its own record in Government and the choices that it makes with its spending, rather than making excuses and deflecting blame onto others?
The cabinet is the group of twenty or so (and no more than 22) senior government ministers who are responsible for running the departments of state and deciding government policy.
It is chaired by the prime minister.
The cabinet is bound by collective responsibility, which means that all its members must abide by and defend the decisions it takes, despite any private doubts that they might have.
Cabinet ministers are appointed by the prime minister and chosen from MPs or peers of the governing party.
However, during periods of national emergency, or when no single party gains a large enough majority to govern alone, coalition governments have been formed with cabinets containing members from more than one political party.
War cabinets have sometimes been formed with a much smaller membership than the full cabinet.
From time to time the prime minister will reorganise the cabinet in order to bring in new members, or to move existing members around. This reorganisation is known as a cabinet re-shuffle.
The cabinet normally meets once a week in the cabinet room at Downing Street.
